Some common security issues in WordPress
Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2024 9:50 am
To try to be illustrative, I liked to use this analogy: “Imagine that you are planning to build a wooden house. You will have to design it and build it. Then you can enjoy it but you will have to worry about maintaining it, since wood needs certain treatments to withstand the passage of time or else it will rot and the house will end up falling down.” Well, the same thing happens with a website, nobody wants it to fall down anymore…
So WordPress isn’t secure? In fact, it is a secure content management system, but like any CMS, it is susceptible to attacks if not properly protected . The problematic part is not the core of WordPress, as its engineers work daily to protect it from vulnerabilities. The “problem” (note the quotation marks) is that since it is open source software, its source code is available to everyone, and this is what makes it so great but, at the same time, so dependent on good security efforts.
Let me explain. Thanks to the code, developers can create compatible themes and plugins on a daily basis, both for our clients and to make them available to everyone. This has greatly contributed to the popularity of WordPress, given that there is a huge amount of material available, both free and paid, with which to configure and customize pages. On the other hand, this code is also available to anyone who wants to look for vulnerabilities, either to correct them or to take advantage of them. And that is where the importance of being aware and actively applying those measures that allow us to improve the security of WordPress comes into play.
Whether as a freelance developer or at Bannister Global, trust me: “ I’ve seen things you wouldn’t believe. Websites attacked using the ‘admin’ username beyond Orion. I’ve seen shiny URLs changed to point to obscure sites near Tannhauser Gate… All of these attempts will fail, thanks to security measures, and be lost in time like tears in rain .” Some of the most common threats include:
Brute force attacks . A brute force login attempt is a type of attack in which a hacker attempts to guess a website's username and password. Automated programs are often used to try thousands of possible combinations until they hit the correct one or exhaust all options.
Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) - A common security vulnerability attempt that allows an attacker to inject malicious code into a web page. The malicious code is then executed finland email list when a user accesses the web page, potentially leading to information theft or redirects to other malicious websites that carry out scams or distribute malware.
Backdoors . A form of unauthorized and covert access to a website with the aim of providing attackers with hidden and persistent access and, as a result, taking full control of the site. This allows them to steal sensitive information, distribute malware, or carry out other malicious activities. These backdoors can be present in themes, plugins, and even in WordPress itself if proper security measures are not applied.
Denial of Service (DoS) attacks are a type of attack designed to make a website inaccessible to any user. This is achieved by overloading servers with a large amount of malicious requests or traffic, although sometimes, instead of attacking the server, a specific plugin or functionality is attacked, which can also cause resource exhaustion or crash the website. As a result, the website becomes slow or completely inaccessible.
These are some of the actions that hackers take advantage of WordPress vulnerabilities and, now that you know them, let's talk about the measures you can apply to optimize the security of your website.
Measures that will help you improve security in WordPress
Taking into account all of the above, and knowing that we like to write articles with lists of tips on web topics, here are some basic recommendations to improve security in WordPress.
So WordPress isn’t secure? In fact, it is a secure content management system, but like any CMS, it is susceptible to attacks if not properly protected . The problematic part is not the core of WordPress, as its engineers work daily to protect it from vulnerabilities. The “problem” (note the quotation marks) is that since it is open source software, its source code is available to everyone, and this is what makes it so great but, at the same time, so dependent on good security efforts.
Let me explain. Thanks to the code, developers can create compatible themes and plugins on a daily basis, both for our clients and to make them available to everyone. This has greatly contributed to the popularity of WordPress, given that there is a huge amount of material available, both free and paid, with which to configure and customize pages. On the other hand, this code is also available to anyone who wants to look for vulnerabilities, either to correct them or to take advantage of them. And that is where the importance of being aware and actively applying those measures that allow us to improve the security of WordPress comes into play.
Whether as a freelance developer or at Bannister Global, trust me: “ I’ve seen things you wouldn’t believe. Websites attacked using the ‘admin’ username beyond Orion. I’ve seen shiny URLs changed to point to obscure sites near Tannhauser Gate… All of these attempts will fail, thanks to security measures, and be lost in time like tears in rain .” Some of the most common threats include:
Brute force attacks . A brute force login attempt is a type of attack in which a hacker attempts to guess a website's username and password. Automated programs are often used to try thousands of possible combinations until they hit the correct one or exhaust all options.
Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) - A common security vulnerability attempt that allows an attacker to inject malicious code into a web page. The malicious code is then executed finland email list when a user accesses the web page, potentially leading to information theft or redirects to other malicious websites that carry out scams or distribute malware.
Backdoors . A form of unauthorized and covert access to a website with the aim of providing attackers with hidden and persistent access and, as a result, taking full control of the site. This allows them to steal sensitive information, distribute malware, or carry out other malicious activities. These backdoors can be present in themes, plugins, and even in WordPress itself if proper security measures are not applied.
Denial of Service (DoS) attacks are a type of attack designed to make a website inaccessible to any user. This is achieved by overloading servers with a large amount of malicious requests or traffic, although sometimes, instead of attacking the server, a specific plugin or functionality is attacked, which can also cause resource exhaustion or crash the website. As a result, the website becomes slow or completely inaccessible.
These are some of the actions that hackers take advantage of WordPress vulnerabilities and, now that you know them, let's talk about the measures you can apply to optimize the security of your website.
Measures that will help you improve security in WordPress
Taking into account all of the above, and knowing that we like to write articles with lists of tips on web topics, here are some basic recommendations to improve security in WordPress.